Lovely Lucca!!!
This morning we took the bus to Lucca- a wonderful old walled city about half an hour south of here. It is a beautiful city, most of the buildings are centuries old, and the narrow streets weave their way through many piazzas on old cobblestone streets. We just loved it! And bicycles everywhere! Quite clearly the easiest way to get around! The wall surrounding the whole city was built in the 11th and 12th century and is one of the few cities left in Europe where the wall is still completely intact.
We wandered around the city for the first couple of hours, before leaving the walls to go and pick up our Avis rental car, just down the road. We then went back in to Lucca, and after lunch, hired our own bicycles and rode around the wall of the city. Very pretty!
We then rode through the streets, which was a bit crazy at times, lots of tourists, as well as bicycles and cars everywhere. We then climbed up the Le Torre Guinigi, a tower with trees planted on top. From there you have a view of all the city and also the hills surrounding it. Well worth the climb!
Later went back to our rental car, where Lauri had to quickly get used to driving on the wrong( as in right!) side of the road! And navigate our way out of the city and back to Bagni di Lucca!! Which we did surprisingly easily!
On the way back we stopped at the Ponte della Maddalena - also known as the Devil's Bridge, a very unusual medieval bridge. See extra photos to see.